News & Blog

Yesterday was Die and Stay Dead‘s book birthday! As I always do on book birthdays, I took a trip to many of my local bookstores to sign their stock. The photo above was taken at the Barnes & Noble on 54th Street and Third Avenue in Manhattan. The bookseller there was very excited for me when I told him it was my book birthday. It turns out he’s a published author, too! He asked if this was my first book. “No, it’s my eighth,” I said, “but they all feel like the first one on their book birthday.”

If you’re looking for Die and Stay Dead at a Barnes & Noble, they’ve shelved it the Fiction & Literature section, not the Science Fiction & Fantasy section, just like they did with Dying Is My Business. Please don’t ask me why. I don’t know. But that’s where you need to go to find both of them.

Here’s some other fun Die and Stay Dead news:

1) Goodreads is giving away five (5) free copies of the book! This giveaway has got a short life span — it ends October 5th — so enter today for your chance to win!

2) There’s a new interview with me over at Blood Rose Books. It’s a good one, but unfortunately the font color makes it kind of hard on the eyes.

3) Don’t forget, I’m reading TONIGHT with Laird Barron and L.A. Kornetsky (a.k.a. Laura Anne Gilman) at WORD in Brooklyn! Here are all the details. Come join us! This is going to be the reading event everyone will be talking about! Well, I’ll be talking about it, anyway. But there will be free wine, so don’t miss it!

It’s finally here! Today is Die and Stay Dead‘s book birthday!

The pulse-pounding sequel to Dying Is My Business . . .

It’s happened again. Another brutal murder, this time in Greenwich Village. But this investigation is different. It could be the beginning of the end. When Trent realizes that he and the Five-Pointed Star are following the trail straight to Erickson Arkwright, the last surviving member of a doomsday cult, he knows that’s not an exaggeration. Back in the day, the Aeternis Tenebris cult thought the world would end on New Year’s Eve of 2000. When it didn’t, they decided to end it themselves by summoning Nahash-Dred, a powerful, terrifying demon known as the Destroyer of Worlds. But something went wrong. The demon massacred the cult, leaving Arkwright the sole survivor.

Now, hiding somewhere in New York City with a new identity, Arkwright plans to summon the demon again and finish the job he started over a decade ago. As Trent rushes to locate a long-lost magical artifact that may be the only way to stop him, the clues begin to mount . . . Trent’s forgotten past and Arkwright’s might be linked somehow. And if they are, it means the truth of who Trent really is may lie buried in the twisted mind of a madman.

Die and Stay Dead is on bookstore shelves everywhere! You can also order it online from:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Powell’s

IndieBound

or your favorite bookseller!

Die and Stay Dead has received some excellent reviews so far:

“Smart and fast-paced…The fighting and introspection are finely balanced in this well-developed magical world, which includes harsh costs and sacrifices that don’t always pay off. Each character has a strong voice, allowing for quick engagement even if the reader missed the first book. The strong writing and open ending will leave fans hungry for the next installment.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Fans of the first book, Dying Is My Business (2013), will give this one a very enthusiastic thumbs-up, and urban-fantasy readers who missed that book can jump right in with this one since the author provides sufficient background to allow newbies to understand the setup. A strong follow-up to a promising debut; expect further Trent adventures to follow.” — Booklist

“Extremely fast paced, this noir-influenced urban fantasy has more than a touch of horror…New York is almost a character in the series…Full of clever bantering.” — Library Journal

“A gritty and appealing dark fantasy series I can really sink my teeth into.” — Black Gate

“A satisfying urban fantasy…Tense, pulse-pounding action sequences…St. Martin’s Press scored publishing success with the first adventure featuring the enigmatic Trent, and urban fantasy fanciers will be likely be pleased by his return.” — Diabolique Magazine

Check out this page for a list of readings and signings I’ll be doing around the New York City area, including the launch tomorrow night at WORD in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, along with guest stars Laird Barron and L.A. Kornetsky (a.k.a. Laura Anne Gilman)! Come join me!

Tomorrow, Tuesday the 30th, is Die and Stay Dead‘s book birthday! Hooray! And just in time, Diabolique Magazine has run a very nice review. Here’s the pull-quote:

A satisfying urban fantasy…Tense, pulse-pounding action sequences…St. Martin’s Press scored publishing success with the first adventure featuring the enigmatic Trent, and urban fantasy fanciers will be likely be pleased by his return.

Don’t forget, I’m reading from Die and Stay Dead this Wednesday, October 1st, at WORD in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, along with Laird Barron and L.A. Kornetsky (a.k.a. Laura Anne Gilman). Come join us for a night of weird and wonderful fiction!

Library Journal has a great advance review of Die and Stay Dead in the September 15 issue. Like the glowing review in Publishers Weekly (which I’m still beaming over), this one is a rave, too! I can’t find it anywhere on the Library Journal website yet — there’s likely a deliberate delay between when something runs in the magazine and when it gets archived online in an effort to keep the print magazine relevant — but I discovered it on the Barnes & Noble page for the book, of all places! Here it is in full because I love it so much:

Library Journal
09/15/2014
Ever since Trent joined up with the Five-Pointed Star (in 2013’s Dying Is My Business), helping that group collect dangerous magical artifacts in New York City, he finally feels like he has a family. The job could frequently be fatal, but Trent’s inexplicable habit of coming back from the dead each time he is killed proves handy when he and his team are on the trail of Erickson Arkwright, the leader of a doomsday cult intent on releasing demons on the city. Arkwright might also be the key to revealing Trent’s forgotten past. VERDICT Extremely fast paced, this noir-influenced urban fantasy has more than a touch of horror as Trent and his likable team face a demonic invasion. New York is almost a character in the series. The interactions among the teammates are full of clever bantering as Trent learns he can count on them no matter what, although with the revelations in this volume it’s hard to see where Kaufmann will take the story next.

They’re correct, by the way. There is a doozy of a revelation about Trent’s past at the end of Die and Stay Dead, and anyone who thinks they’ve already figured out who he was before he lost his memories is in for a big surprise. Of course this revelation changes everything, but I know where the story will go next. I’m working on the third and ostensibly final novel in the trilogy, Only the Dead Sleep, as we speak.

Did I mention Die and Stay Dead is coming out in less than a week? Look for it on bookstore shelves on Tuesday, September 30! Or you can preorder it from Amazon, B&N, Powell’s, IndieBound, or your favorite bookstore! And don’t forget, I’ll be reading and signing around the NYC area this fall!